


The Recommendation

by Nehszriah



Series: The Thick of UNIT [4]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), The Thick of It (TV)
Genre: Gen, How it all started, Prompt Fic, and Glenn sucking it up and taking another one for the team like he's apt to do, little does he know how nicely everything's going to turn out because of it, plus some drops of other goings-on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 02:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5989404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nehszriah/pseuds/Nehszriah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mainframe UK's Head of Public Relations is retiring and Kate needs some advice on who would be a good candidate for the job. [pre-TTOU]</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Recommendation

**Author's Note:**

> Someone had wanted a prompt fill of Glenn pitching Malcolm as a potential coworker and how Kate decides to hire him, so here is how it happened.

It was mid-afternoon when Glenn checked in with his staff and went up to an appointment with the Brigadier-Director. He’d been working at UNIT for nearly a year at that point, and he was wondering what said meeting was going to be about. Was it going to be a performance review? Maybe it was just checking in on him, to see how he was getting on. Whatever it was, he took the lift up to Director Stewart’s office, being let into the inner sanctum immediately by the cheery PA guarding it.

“You needed me?” he asked as he walked into the main office. He saw Kate Stewart sitting behind her desk working on a draft of some sort, which she nearly happily put down as soon as he entered. Once Glenn was sitting, Stewart leaned back in her chair in an attempt to relax.

“I had some interesting news this morning,” she said. Glenn stared at her, not knowing how to react. “You didn’t hear this from me, but Mulligan is retiring.”

“No…!” he gasped. “I thought the bastard still had at least ten years on him!”

“He did, but after that scare with the Draconian assassins he hasn’t been the same, so I talked him into an early retirement—spend some time with Violet and the children while he’s still able-bodied and all that.”

“You mean you’re forcing him out.”

“Your words, not mine.” Director Stewart picked up her pen and began fiddling with it. “This is now where you come in.”

“Me…?” he wondered. “What does this have to do with me? I’m in data.”

“Who can we poach from the government that would be able to keep up in a place like this?” she inquired. “We can’t get just _anyone_ for the job, and I think someone in government would do well; at least they’d know a little bit about what it’s like wrestling with the bureaucracy.”

“…and you’re asking me because I worked in government for a long time,” he added.

“Correct; we need some fresh blood in here, Glenn,” Director Stewart said. “You know who the decent people are—who can we get? Cal Richards?”

“They don’t call him ‘The Fucker’ for nothing.”

“How about this Stewart Pearson man I keep on hearing about?”

“Fuck no; that hippie-twat would rather us get bulldozed by Daleks while singing some sodding peace ballad than actually do anything important.”

“Emma Messinger?”

“A bit more grounded than Pearson, but she’s ruthless. Mannion needs her more than we do.”

“Oliver Reeder?”

“I’m convinced that little shit is the product of some long-term Soviet conspiracy project to genetically breed incompetent, backstabbing boy-faced cunts and stick them all over in government positions so that the West collapses on itself.”

“I’ll mark him down as a ‘no’,” the Brigadier-Director said, crossing the names off a list. They were quickly beginning to run low on options—these were all recent hold-outs from an inquiry, and none would likely be torn about whether to leave their jobs for something leagues more low-key. “Do you have anyone you’d like to recommend?”

Glenn sat for a moment in thought. Mulligan was the Head of Public Relations, a job that was prone to having long busy streaks and requiring an endless source of stamina. The person for the job couldn’t be one that was easily intimidated, nor one that would faff about or be prone to major cock-ups. Intelligent, dependable, a quick-learner—not to mention one that was quick to adapt—there was only one individual that he could imagine having filed all the requirements, though the thought of working in the same _building_ as him again, let alone for the same corporation.

“Yes…?” Stewart asked, egging him on. “You’ve got that look.”

“I know of someone who’d be perfect, but he’s not exactly in the position to take any job offers,” he explained.

“…and why not? Our compensation would be more than generous, as you already know.”

“That inquiry business that I resigned my aide’s post over? He was the one that got bit the worst, aside from the poor man whose death caused the entire thing.”

Director Stewart put her pen down and folded her arms. “Go on…”

Swallowing hard, Glenn put aside past grievances and recalled as much as he possibly could. “His name’s Malcolm Tucker and he ended up sentenced to a few consecutive terms in prison that he couldn’t get out of, even on an appeal. If I had to pick anyone, he’d be it.”

“…and why, may I ask, would you suggest a convicted man over any other person who can walk freely into a job interview?”

“I remember him as a newspaper lad, as well as a media-man just starting out,” he elaborated. “He adapts well, he’s a master of spin and stories, he will gladly dedicate himself to a rightful cause, and if someone needs a good bollocking, he’s the dog you want snapping.”

“Did the two of you get on in your time working together?”

“ _God no_ , but that was a job where few of us ever knew what was going on, even the ones in the loop—gone as far as clocked me once.”

“So this man is _violent_ and you want me to break him out of prison and hire him?” she marveled. “Do we need to send you to a psychiatrist?”

“He’s not _normally_ violent, but he’s the best there is,” he insisted. Glenn rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward, exhaling morosely. “He’s grown into a right nasty cunt since his younger years, that Tucker, but I wouldn’t recommend him if I didn’t think he was the absolute best for the job. We don’t have room for trial and error here, and I’ve seen him navigate fuck-ups flawlessly, despite bumps along the way. A bit of an adjustment period and he’ll be three times the PR man Mulligan has ever been.”

“Is there anyone we can contact concerning contacting him?” the Brigadier-Director asked. “Family? Friends that keep up while he’s incarcerated?”

“I know he’s got a niece he doted on, and heard something about her being his sister’s girl once, but damned if I know where to contact them and if they’re just letting him rot or not.”

“Alright—I’ll look into it,” she nodded. “This is only because you’re so insistent—if what you’re telling me doesn’t match up to the man behind bars, it’s going to reflect badly upon you.” She looked Glenn directly in the eyes, keeping his gaze. “Do you think he did it?”

“…did what?”

“What he landed himself in prison for; did he do it?”

“He’ll verbally tear a bumbling coworker apart, but I don’t think he leaked anything in that case, not on-purpose. Tucker doesn’t play with people’s lives, and certainly not the life of someone whose incompetence he doesn’t have to deal with. He respects those others consider lesser folk and…” he trailed off, remembering the God-awful and uncomfortable inquiry they had to sit through. “He’s no saint, but he’s decent enough to be allowed to roam free.”

“Good,” she said. “I’ll let you know what I dig up. So far, he’s the only candidate worth looking into, and that’s saying something.”

“What sort of stuff _are_ you going to try to dig up?”

“Everything: family history, political background, social life, medical records… a complete dossier. If he’s not someone who we can work with, I’m going to have to make a call to Bambera for some help.”

“Isn’t she in Geneva though?”

“Precisely why—she’ll have heard whispers of someone wanting to move up in the ranks without anywhere to go.” Stewart shuffled around some papers, needing to do something with her hands. “I’d rather have someone a bit more local than what Geneva can conjure up though, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Whole-heartedly.” Glenn gave his boss a polite smile, hoping that he hadn’t made the biggest mistake of his life.


End file.
